As of 1st December, start-up firm AdvanSiD, founded by the Optoi Group, is officially part of the Cefla Group thanks to a 100% merger.
Optoi is a specialist producer of optoelectronic sensors. Founded in Trento in 1995, it’s now the holding company for the 5-company Hi-Tech group. Optoi was one of the first technological spin-offs of the renowned Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), which puts Trento in the mainstream of European research. Optoi has grown to become a market leader. It employs over 70 highly qualified members of personnel and continues to pursue its original vocation for research, development and innovation. It also maintains close scientific ties with FBK and has achieved a high degree of specialisation as a provider of microchips and silicon sensors.
Paolo Bussolari, General Manager of the Cefla Group and its Medical Equipment BU, says: “Cefla’s acquisition of AdvanSiD, an Optoi Group start-up, aims to further bolster the Group’s know-how and technological skills. With 90 years’ experience behind us, we continue to be a company focused on creating value and on investing in innovation, research and development. In keeping with the Group’s 2022-24 business plan – which involves ploughing some €50 million into innovation – we wanted to invest in the LuXimos digital X-ray sensor and silicon photomultiplier technology developed by AdvanSiD. This has huge potential in terms of technological returns and integrates perfectly with the solutions we market via our Medical Equipment Business Unit. We wanted to aim for a ‘Made in Italy’ enabling technology and acquire a company that gives us control upstream from the technological chain.
Cefla’s strength stems from its founding principles: strategic vision and internationalisation, investment in technology and innovation, equity-related and financial solidity for constant, profitable growth”.
For Alfredo Maglione, president of the Optoi Group, “the operation is a highly positive example of all-Italian innovation and synergy. The Cefla Group decided to acquire AdvanSiD because of its development of the LuXimos silicon microelectronic sensors that are used in next-gen digital dental X-ray systems. This is innovative technology, not least because LuXimos sensors work with lower X-ray doses.
Thanks to this operation, the Cefla Group will be able to establish itself here in Trentino and work with us at the Optoi Group and with FBK, letting them grow within our innovation ecosystem and allowing the construction of an all-Italian supply chain of dental X-ray sensors. At a time marked by the so-called ‘semiconductor crisis’, being able to design and produce sensors and microchips in Trentino, Italy, is of enormous strategic value. What’s more, it’s to the full advantage of national and European industries, as highlighted by the European semiconductors plan (known as the Chips Act); launched in early 2022, the plan will deliver over forty billion euros’ worth of investment between now and 2030”.
